Pre-workout & Post-workout Dietary Tips
Many people are unaware of the importance of both pre-workout and post-workout dietary requirements. Getting it wrong pre-workout can be the difference between a good and a poor workout. Getting it wrong post-workout can be the difference between a fast recovery and slow recovery.
Pre-Workout DIET:
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It is important to have the right meal before an intense workout. This will ensure that during your exercise, you will feel strong and will have the energy to do your exercise at full intensity. You would not want to feel weak in the course of your workout, especially near the end, you would experience a “crash” so to speak, and would be unable to complete your exercise regimen for the session.
A preferred pre-workout meal would be a meal replacement powder instead of solid food, since the latter takes a longer time to digest.
Meal replacement powders made into a shake will provide you with the right carbohydrates that can easily be absorbed by the body and will fuel your workout till the end.
This will also help decrease Cortisol levels that normally increases during exercise. With high Cortisol levels, your muscle is in danger of catabolism, especially if these high levels are maintained for a long period of time, due to the absence of carbohydrates.
Also, the shake will preferably have whey as its protein source since it has a large amount of branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) that can be quickly absorbed by the body.
BCAAs would protect your muscles from being used as a fuel during your workout, and will also provide for the necessary nutrients after your workout. There are also studies that show its effects in decreasing body fat storage especially in the middle area.
* Drink the shake 30 minutes to 60 minutes prior to a workout.
Recuperative Post-workout DIET
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It is best to drink a protein shake right after a work-out. This will ensure that your body will be able to feed quality protein to make them grow. As muscles are already in dire need of such depleted nutrients, this post-work out drink would be of great help.
* The drink should be taken 30 to 60 minutes after the workout.
Casein is another type of protein that is slowly absorbed by the body, and thus the delivery of the amino acids into the system is gradual.
Before going to bed, a glass of casein would be helpful since it will reduce protein breakdown, at the same time prolong protein synthesis.
Note: When weight training and consuming large amounts of protein ensure that you drink plenty of water throughout the day to flush out the toxins from your system.
